They were executed for their faith and allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church between 1535 and 1679 following the rupture between Rome and England as result of Henry VIII's dispute with the Pope over his divorce of Catherine of Aragon.

They include priests hanged drawn and quartered for refusing to pledge allegiance to Henry in 1535 to pregnant housewife Margaret Clitheroe from York who was crushed to death for harbouring a priest in 1586.

Foreign saints

Yet the only two English-based people who lived since the Penal Times to be beatified - the Catholic Church's halfway house to full sainthood - have been foreigners.